Overall Green alert Volcanic eruption for Bagana
in Papua New Guinea

Event summary

GREEN alert: The Bagana Volcanic eruption is unlikely to require external humanitarian assistance based on the exposed population and coping capacity.

GDACS ID VO 1000075
Name: Bagana (255020)
Lat/Lon: -6.14 , 155.2
Event Date: 20 Jul 2023 UTC
Exposed Population 30km: About 14000 people within 30km
Exposed Population 100km: About 160000 people within 100km
Max Volc. Explosivity Index VEI: 4
Population Exposure Index PEI: 2
Inserted at: 20 Jul 2023 05:40 UTC

GDACS Score

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Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Papua New Guinea - Volcanic activity (ECHO 20 Jul 2023)Thu, 20 Jul 2023 10:55

  • Since the evening of 7 July, Mount Bagana located in the centre of the island of Bougainville, eastern Papua New Guinea, is experiencing several eruptions, causing a significant amount of ash emission and lava flow.
  • According to the Autonomous Bougainville Government, the communities living in Torokina and Wakunai Towns area have been asked to evacuate following a huge amount of recorded ashfall that has also contaminated most of the water sources and crops, particularly in the Wakunai area. media reported more than 8,000 people are displaced.
  • National authorities are providing help for the affected people with food, water and shelter supplies.
  • The alert level of the volcano is at stage 3 of a four-tier scale.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2024. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

The Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report provides information about global volcanism on a weekly basis. Latest Bagana report has been published on 19 Jul 2023 10:48.
An explosive eruption at Bagana on 15 July was similar to one that occurred on 7 July. According to the Darwin VAAC an eruption at around 0830 on 15 July produced an ash plume that rose to 16.5 km (54,000 ft) a.s.l. by 1000 and drifted N based on satellite images. The plume was visible continuing to drift N in an image from 1900 but had dissipated by 2150. Ground-based reports indicated that pyroclastic flows had occurred in the vicinity of the volcano; small deposits confined to one drainage were inspected by RVO during an overflight on 17 July, and were confirmed to be from the 7 July event. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) issued a statement on 17 July noting significant impacts of ashfall in local communities. According to the National Disaster Centre, ashfall from the first event lasted until 10 July; an eruption was also reported by RVO on 14 July. Ashfall (presumably from events on 7 and 15 July) impacted about 8,111 people in Torokina, South Bougainville, including Tsito/Vuakovi, Gotana (9 km SW), Koromaketo, Kenaia, Longkogari, Kenbaki, Piva (13 km SW), and Atsinima (27km WNW) and in the Tsitovi district according to ABG. Significant ashfall was also reported in Ruruvu (22 km N) in the Wakunai District of Central Bougainville. The Alert Level was at Stage 3 (the third level on a four-level scale), confirmed by RVO the evening before. An evacuation was called for the villages in Wakunai, where heavy ashfall had contaminated water sources; the communities of Ruruvu, Togarau, Kakarapaia, Karauturi, Atao, and Kuritaturi were asked to evacuate to a disaster center at the Wakunai District Station within 24 hours. Communities in Torokina, nearest to Bagana, were to immediately evacuate to the Piva District station. Sources: Autonomous Bougainville Government,Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC),Papua New Guinea National Disaster Centre,Rabaul Volcano Observatory (RVO)
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Latest media headlines

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (32), (2), INGV (2), WMO (1), INFORM (2), JSR (1),